The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1887-05-28

cie uoes hoI reveal, DuI tne hepu6ticdT
is evidently amazed that any Christian
clergyman should overlook the claims
of Christ himself to be more than Other
men, and the remarkable, insistent and
comprehensive character of those utter.
ances which plainly indicate that JESUS
CHRIST was personally possessed by the
conviction that he was, indeed, the one
Saviour and Redeemer of men, and in a
sense which admits of no human part.
nership in his divine mission. 1t is re.
marked that Jesus mot only spoke
continually of himself, but put forth
personal claims for himself, the like
''of which had never been made before,
land have never been made since, and
"such as had never even been conceived
"before." And the writer offers in ev-
idence these lofty utterances from the
gospels, all bearing on the point sug-
gested, and in evidence that Jesus be.
lieved himself to be something more
than simply human teacher of relig-
ion:
Before Abraham was am.
Heaven and earth shall pasa away, but my
word shall not pass away.
Come unto me, all ye that labor and are
heavy laden, and will give you rest.
Whosoever drinketh of the water that
shall give him shall never thirst
He that heareth my word, and believeth
on him that sent me, hath everlasting life.
am the bread of life. He that cometh
to me shall never hunger, and he that be-
lieveth on me shall never thirst.
am the light of the world.
1 am from above.
am not of this world.
l am the way, the truth and the life. He
that believeth in me, though he were dead,
yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and
believeth in me shall never die.
He that loveth father or mother more than
me, is not worthy of me. And he that taketh
not his CROSS and followeth after me is not
worthy of me.
There have been," says the Repub-
hcam, great and good men in the world
and there have been great and bad
men. There have been fanatics and
impostors but no man, however great
and good, or great and bad however
wild fanatic, or enormous an impos-
tor, ever lived who dared to make such
claims, or could even have conceived
them, supposing he possessed the har-
dihood to assert them. Even now,
eighteen centuries after they were spo.
ken by this wonderful person, no man
has dared to repeat and appropriate
them. All men do not accept the words
and recognize the supreme and abso-
lutte claims of this wonderful person,
but all men-those against him as well
as those for him-do by common con-
sent, carefully abstain from the ground
covered by those claims, and leave it to
him alone"
This is very suggestive and forcible
way of presenting the peculiar and dis
tinguishing claims of JESUS CHRIST, as
those claims are impersonated in him.
self. The candid reader of the gospels
will recognize that this insistence, as
we term it, marks not only the thought
of Christ in regard to himself, but runs
throughout the New Testament in the
views and opinions Of his immediate
followers. It is this, in fact, on which
Christianity, as system Of divine
truth, is reared. The declarations of
the gospels and epistles in regard to
JESUS CHRIST are utterly inadmissible
with any theory of simply human de-
velopment. They are predicated from
first to last on the idea of one who
stands in direct, special and immedi-
ate relation to God as his messenger to
mankind, officially representative of the
Father, and filled with special meas
ure of grace and truth for the worlds
redemption. And in the prosecution of
his mission while on the earth, it is
worthy of notice that Jesus never for
gets himself in his Office as the Saviour
and Redeemer. He identifies the work
with himself, and in order that his
work may be Immediately and signally
successful, urges constantly that him.
self be made an object of faith and
part of the believers experience. This
is the characteristic of Christianity as
interpreted by JESUS CHRIsT-the per-
sonal appropriation of himself as
Saviour, the acceptance Of his own
unique and exalted claims, and the re-
cognition of his personal authority as
the chosen one of God. And in this
the gospels and epistles agree, each
uniting with the other in enforcing
these unique claims.
There is no possible way to avoid
this conclusion if Christ himself is to
stand as witness of Christianity.
His conception of the religion which he
delivered to mankind is indissolubly
bound up and united with himself.
The acceptance of Christianity logically
involves-and involves beyond success
full contradiction-the acceptance of
Christ's claims for himself as divine
teacher, and one who shares his special